It’s hard to see around the corner and over the snow glaciers in your favorite Caribou parking lot, let alone spring. Did I mention spring begins 45 days from Sunday?

Some indicators early in winter pointed to a potential for a warming trend as we move into February. It does look slightly less Nordic in the next 2 weeks, but I don’t see any huge warm ups in sight, yet.

If you love winter and great snow for skiing, snowshoeing and all things cryogenic, this is the winter for you. Minnesota’s winter resort business and ski areas (and body shops) couldn’t be happier.

Did I also mention that the groundhog will likely see his shadow in Minnesota Sunday as he fires up his 60-inch plasma to watch the Super Bowl? Yes, I think we can count on 6 more weeks of winter in Minnesota this year. I’m hearing that’s OK with many of you — just so winter doesn’t spill into April (and May) again this year.

Our chilly but quiet weather will last this weekend in most of Minnesota. But if you are planning travel south or east along Interstate 35 or Interstate 94 to Des Moines, Iowa, or Chicago, expect to run into snow. A good 6 to 10 inches will fall from south of Des Moines to Chicago this weekend.

Some minor rain and mountain snow system will graze California in the next two weeks. It may be far too little, and too late.

The season for winter storms that dump precious snowfall in the Sierra and rain in California’s valleys is nearing a close. It just might be too late to lay catch up from a drought that has rapidly deepened into the critical phase in under a year.

The San Francisco Chronicle has more on how drought is quickly turning to drought emergency that is threatening water supplies.

It is a bleak road map of the deepening crisis brought on by one of California’s worst droughts – a list of 17 communities and water districts that within 100 days could run dry of the state’s most precious commodity.

The threatened towns and districts, identified this week by state health officials, are mostly small and in rural areas. They get their water in a variety of ways, from reservoirs to wells to rivers. But, in all cases, a largely rainless winter has left their supplies near empty.

In the Bay Area, Cloverdale and Healdsburg in Sonoma County are among those at risk of running out of water, according to the state. The small Lompico Water District in the Santa Cruz Mountains is also on the list. Others could be added if the dry weather lingers.

On Thursday, the National Drought Mitigation Center upgraded about 9 percent of the state to an “exceptional drought,” the organization’s most intense level of drought severity. It’s the first time that any part of California has registered an exceptional drought in the 14-year history of the NDMC drought monitor.

Now, 14 years is an admittedly short period of time. But thanks to the magic of science (and tree rings), we can now safely say that California hasn’t been this dry since around the time of Columbus, more than 500 years ago. What’s more, much of the state’s development over the last 150 years came during an abnormally wet era, which scientists say could come to a quick end with the help of human-induced climate change.

The Central Sierra Snow Lab near the Donner Summit reports 8 inches of snow on the ground, the lowest for this time in January since at least 1946. In the general vicinity of Monterey to Bakersfield, conditions warranted a 1-category [upgrade], from extreme to exceptional drought. A few of the impacts within the exceptional drought area include fallowing of land, wells running dry, municipalities considering drilling deeper wells, and little to no rangeland grasses for cattle to graze on, prompting significant livestock sell off.

That puts the current California drought on par with recent major droughts in Texas (2010-11) and the Midwest (2012), both of which were multibillion-dollar disasters.

It may be too late in the season to catch up for California’s water resources. If the jet stream pattern stays stuck for several more months, California will face some extreme choices. All of us will see some food prices spike at the checkout counter.

The evenings are getting noticeably longer at the weather lab as we head into February. There is still some light in the west on clear evenings now during my usual 5:48 p.m. weather chat with Tom Crann on MPR News.

We’ve gained an hour of daylight since December, and we gain another 1 hour and 8 minutes in February!

Our total incoming solar energy doubles by about Valentine’s Day compared to where it was Dec. 21.

The higher sun angle in February will start to work much more efficiently melting snow on roadways on milder days, but with plenty of highly reflective snow cover it takes some time for the atmosphere to recover from it’s wintry daylight deprived temperature hangover.

The good news is it wont be long before the increased solar energy begins to modify incoming air masses.

About the blogger

Paul Huttner is chief meteorologist for Minnesota Public Radio. Huttner has worked TV and radio stations in Minneapolis, Tucson and Chicago. Paul is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul and holds a bachelor’s degree in geography with an emphasis in meteorology.